How Acelryin Achieved One of Biotech's Largest IPO's to Date

Samson Amore

Samson Amore is a reporter for dot.LA. He holds a degree in journalism from Emerson College. Send tips or pitches to samsonamore@dot.la and find him on Twitter @Samsonamore.

How Acelryin Achieved One of Biotech's Largest IPO's to Date
Evan Xie

Agoura Hills-based clinical biopharmaceutical company Acelyrin went public on the NASDAQ markets May 5, securing one of Los Angeles’ most valuable initial public offerings in two years.

The IPO priced Acelyrin’s 34.5 million shares at $18 apiece, netting the company $621 million. It is now trading under the symbol SLRN.


The listing was not only the largest in Los Angeles, but also nationwide – second only to Irvine-based electric automaker Rivian’s massive $12 billion IPO in November 2021. It’s also larger than any of the biotech IPOs that happened last year.

Acelyrin was founded by CEO Shao-Lee Lin in July 2020. Instead of creating its own drugs, Acelyrin is in the business of acquiring, developing and commercializing medicines.

Its main product is a drug called Izokibep which is currently in clinical trials. According to Acelyrin, Izokibep can treat a number of issues including psoriatic arthritis (arthritis that people with the autoimmune disease psoriasis sometimes develop), uveitis (a condition in which the middle layer of the eyeball gets inflamed), and hidradenitis suppurativa, a skin issue that causes small painful lumps to grow underneath skin.

Lin wasn’t available to comment, but told the Wall Street Journal about the IPO timing, “it seemed like the right time to approach the public markets and present our story.” Lin also said she thought Acelylrin’s stable of drugs was strong enough that it could successfully weather the public markets.

While the U.S.’ IPO market remains pretty stagnant, biotechnology companies are showing more activity than other sectors. Startups across the board are both seeing fewer exits and less value from them, and both investors and founders are extra cautious about sending startups out to rickety public markets.

Morgan Stanley recently predicted that the healthcare industry – specifically, pharmaceutical companies looking to acquire new biotech businesses and their patents – are poised to weather the mild recession coming out of the global COVID-19 pandemic. In 2022 only 22 biotech companies went public, compared to 110 in 2021, according to NASDAQ.

It remains to be seen if this IPO is indicative of a larger trend of biotech firms embracing public markets again. But Acelyrin’s public debut is notable because it actually upsized its offering because of investor and underwriter demand, adding roughly 50% more shares than the original 20.6 million.

Now valued at $2.1 billion, Acelyrin was quickly scooping up venture and private equity funding prior to the IPO. It raised roughly $558 million before going public, including in Series B and C rounds worth more than $100 million in 2021 and 2022. One of Acelyrin’s backers is Westlake Village BioPartners, a repeat investor based on the border of LA and Ventura Counties.

In its first day of trading last Friday, Acelyrin saw its share price climb 30%. As of this writing, it’s now up about 1.2% to nearly $25 per share.

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LA Tech Week: Local Climate Investors Assess and Vet Green Startups

Samson Amore

Samson Amore is a reporter for dot.LA. He holds a degree in journalism from Emerson College. Send tips or pitches to samsonamore@dot.la and find him on Twitter @Samsonamore.

LA Tech Week: Local Climate Investors Assess and Vet Green Startups
Samson Amore

In a region known for being a national trailblazer when it comes to climate policies, there’s no shortage of green energy startups in L.A. looking for funding. There’s also a plethora of investors and incubators, which means founders looking for cash flow should be extra specific about their value proposition when they pitch to cut through the noise. At least that was the message coming from the panelists at the UCLA Anderson School of Management on Tuesday.

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https://twitter.com/samsonamore
samsonamore@dot.la
LA Tech Week Day Two: Social Highlights
Evan Xie

L.A. Tech Week has brought venture capitalists, founders and entrepreneurs from around the world to the California coast. With so many tech nerds in one place, it's easy to laugh, joke and reminisce about the future of tech in SoCal.

Here's what people are saying about day two of L.A. Tech Week on social:

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LA Tech Week: Goldhirsh Foundation and the Positive Effects of Technology

Decerry Donato

Decerry Donato is a reporter at dot.LA. Prior to that, she was an editorial fellow at the company. Decerry received her bachelor's degree in literary journalism from the University of California, Irvine. She continues to write stories to inform the community about issues or events that take place in the L.A. area. On the weekends, she can be found hiking in the Angeles National forest or sifting through racks at your local thrift store.

LA Tech Week: Goldhirsh Foundation and the Positive Effects of Technology
Photo taken by Decerry Donato

On Monday, Los Angeles-based philanthropic organization Goldhirsh Foundation hosted the Technology and Storytelling For Social Good panel at Creative Visions studio to kick off LA Tech week.

Tara Roth, president of the foundation, moderated the panel and gathered nonprofit and tech leaders including Paul Lanctot, web developer of The Debt Collective; Alexis Cabrera, executive director of 9 Dots; Sabra Williams, co-founder of Creative Acts; and Laura Gonzalez, senior program manager of Los Angeles Cleantech Incubator (LACI).

Each of the panelists are grantees of Goldhirsh Foundation’s LA2050, an initiative launched in 2011 that is continuously trying to drive and track progress toward a shared vision for the future of Los Angeles. Goldhirsh’s vision is to make Los Angeles better for all and in order to achieve their goal, the foundation makes investments into organizations, creates partnerships and utilizes social capital through community events.

The panelists shared how the work they are doing in each of their respective sectors uses technology to solve some of society's most pressing challenges and highlight the importance of tech literacy across every community.

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